King’s Hawaiian Bakery and Restaurant at 2808 Sepulveda Blvd. in Torrance has become a South Bay fixture since opening for business in 1988. (I profiled the King’s operation in 2019.)
King’s has added a palm tree and some tropical plants, but otherwise, the popular eatery’s carefully manicured, brick-enhanced exterior doesn’t exactly evoke a traditional Hawaiian look, and there’s a reason for that.
To more recent residents, it may seem as if King’s has always been there. In fact, it turns out that four earlier restaurants occupied the building before King’s moved in (and installed that enticing front counter bakery display).
Torrance housing designer and builder John Gallareto, a Narbonne High graduate, deserves the credit for the construction of the original structure. In addition to his work on housing developments, he also had a passion for building restaurants.
He designed two distinctive restaurants in San Pedro: the Tasman Sea on Western Ave., and Peppy’s steak house on 9th St. A second Peppy’s opened in 1973 in Torrance at 2880 Sepulveda, just down the street from the current King’s location. After that Peppy’s closed, it became a Sizzler steak house for many years. The site is now a vacant lot.
Gallareto spent $750,000 on his lifelong dream to build and open his own restaurant, Gallareto’s, on the Sepulveda site in October 1972. Its interior design featured heavy wooden beams, sculpted ceilings and a large brick fireplace in the entryway.
In addition to the main dining room, the interior layout included a spacious cocktail lounge area and a performance space visible from most of the rest of the 10,000-square-foot restaurant.
The distinctive exterior sported extensive brickwork, rounded turrets and cupolas and a brick lamp post, features that still adorn the building today.
Unfortunately, Gallareto’s closed in mid-1974. Gallareto died at 61 on April 5, 1986.
Very little information exists on the restaurant that followed Gallareto’s, 30 Tons of Bricks. It apparently opened in late 1974 in the same building, but only lasted a few months.
On March 6, 1975, restaurant operators Nick Denny and Irwin Paris took over the building with Neptune’s West, a seafood eatery. The partners refurbished the restaurant, installing tanks stocked with various shellfish from which diners could select their dinner.
They hired pop singer-songwriter Jimmie Rodgers to perform and handle the booking of musical acts. Employees wore various nautically themed uniforms. Denny and Paris envisioned a nationwide chain with the Torrance location as its flagship.
Sadly, large restaurants are tricky financial propositions, and Neptune’s West was unable to sustain its initial success. It closed its doors in early 1976.
The next occupant at 2808 Sepulveda embraced the “theme restaurant” movement of the 1970s that brought us the likes of Victoria Station and Chuck E. Cheese.
Owners Harry Prodromides (known informally as Harry Prod) and Jose Ruiseco adopted a literary theme for their restaurant, which opened on March 4, 1976. Ichabod Crane’s Tarry Town Tavern took its name from the main character in Washington Irving’s 1820 ghost story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
The restaurant included various themed rooms. Diners entered via the Great Hall and could choose rooms such as Sleepy Hollow, Katrina’s Cottage, the Library, the Study, or the Tarry Town Tavern cocktail lounge and live music space. The Garden Room and an upstairs lounge branched off from the tavern.
The interior decor included antiques, Persian rugs, hanging plants and various Americana-themed items meant to evoke the early 19th century atmosphere of Irving’s tale.
Menu specialties at first concentrated on hearty entrees such as prime rib, chateaubriand and seafood dishes.
Ichabod Crane’s had great success in its early years. Reservations weren’t accepted, so diners often had to get there early to avoid long waits for a table. It also became a favorite location for community service clubs, and a meeting room was added for such larger groups.
After more than a decade of operation, the restaurant’s business began to slack off. The menu changed to somewhat lighter fare in 1986, but it wasn’t enough to reverse the restaurant’s declining fortunes. Ichabod Crane’s was closed by September 1987.
King’s Hawaiian already had established its commercial baking business by the time it replaced Ichabod Crane’s with its King’s Hawaiian Bakery and Restaurant in 1988. It continues to be a Torrance dining mainstay as it approaches 40 years in business at the Sepulveda Blvd. site.
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
Los Angeles Times archives.
San Pedro News Pilot archives.
Comments:
From Paul Hill:
I loved your story about Kings Hawaiian. Just recently some friends and I were trying to recall what was there prior.
Regarding the Pepys/Sizzler restaurant, unfortunately the pretty building was torn down a couple years ago. It had been vacant since Covid. Someone had planned to put in a self-service carwash on the property, but thankfully that never happened.
From Gary Narimatsu:
Thanks for the article about Ichabod Cranes. I remember that place. Also remember Peppys. I was employed at Hughes starting 1979. We went there for various occasions. I sometimes think back about the 94th Aero Squadron too, and when Skypark was a two laned drive.
